Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 11.pdf/246

 A Glance at our Colonial Bar. general of Virginia, and a relation of Peyton Randolph. His term was short but brilliant; and his opinions fill a large volume for — as may well be imagined — the expositions in the first years of the Republic regarding the Constitution which he had helped to frame were necessarily numerous. He exchanged the post for secretary of state, succeeding Jefferson. His quaint biographer described him as cradled in law, be cause his father missed some old year-books from his library that were afterwards found under the mattress of his son's cradle, which a servant had placed there in order to raise it to an alti tude desired. For several years ante cedent to his death in 1 813, Edmund Ran dolph resumed his profession as juris consult in Frederic county, Virginia. Upon the brilliant roll of Pennsylvania lawyers no name de serves more to have FRANCIS affixed against it the star-mark of legal excellence than Thomas M'Kean, who, ad mitted by favor to practice before he was of age, afterwards held the office of chief justice of his native State from 1777 to 1799, when he became its governor. In that time his par tisanship was excessive and his opponents endeavored to impeach him, but his legal learning showed them that the attempt was baseless. In his eightieth year — then many years retired from public life — he presided in Independence Hall at the opening of the

221

naval war with England, where he made the memorable expression. " In this crisis there can be only two parties, our country men and their invaders." Chancellor George Wythe of Virginia, an other of the half-forgotten legal worthies T>{ early times, was up to thirty years of age en joying a large fortune left him by his colo nial parents and em barking upon the dangerous seas of unlawful pleasures and personal gratifi cation; but sud denly he reformed and began the study of the law, in the practice of which he soon rose to emi nence. He was suc cessively the legal preceptor of Mar shall, Madison and Monroe, and shortly before he died — eighty-one years old when the century was only five months old — he was heard to punningly re mark, " Those three M's will all become M-inent," and how true was his pre HOPKINSON. diction all know. Chancellor Wythe was also the legal preceptor of Thomas Jefferson. Francis Hopkinson — father of him who composed the words of " Hail Columbia" to the widely popular tune of Washington's March in order to aid a friendless ballad singer of Philadelphia — is best remembered as a signer of the Declaration of Indepen dence; as colonial judge of admiralty and subsequently Federal district judge under the Washington administration, he is seldom